Greece posts better-than-expected deficit thanks to lower spending

Greece’s central government posted a better-than-expected primary budget deficit of 9.07 billion euros ($10.69 billion) for the first seven months of the year, with lower spending offsetting below-target revenues, the finance ministry said.

The government had targeted a primary budget gap, which excludes debt-servicing costs, of 9.6 billion euros for the January-July period.

Budget revenue came in at 29.45 billion euros in the seven-month period, which was 666 million euros lower than the government’s target.

But spending of 39.48 billion euros was over one billion euros lower than the government’s target, the data showed.

The central government figures exclude social security funds and local administration budgets.

Greece has extended COVID-19 restrictions several times to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which hit an economy that emerged in mid-2018 from a decade-long debt crisis.

Photo: EPA/EFE